A few months ago , the Olmos Bharmacy had never seen anything quite like it.

The legendary West Side Horns had packed the joint, with a joyous crowd spilling into the sidewalk, the parking lot and practically into the street.

It was not so unlike the fun scene at the Mendez sisters' old Los Padrinos on West Avenue.

It didn't hurt that it was band leader Arturo “Sauce” Gonzalez's 70th birthday party. Better yet, the venerable horn section led by saxophonist Louie Bustos and trumpeter Al Gomez rocked with gritty abandon.

The West Side Horns return Saturday. Music runs from 8-11 p.m. There's no cover.

Much has been made of the horn section's connection to Doug Sahm of the Sir Douglas Quintet and Texas Tornados. But there's a spiritual, mysterious connection to a troubled Mississippi singer and songwriter who died 50 years ago.

Gomez credits much of the double-tenor-saxophone sound — a signature of the classic West Side timbre — to Jimmy Donley, who committed suicide in March 1963.

“It's that bayou-Louisiana thing. He used that two-tenor sound, too. And it sounds like West Side,” Gomez said. “That's where this comes from. A lot of tunes I used to do with Doug Sahm, man, I didn't know where they came from.”

Donley, whose best-known song was “Born to Be a Loser,” sold many songs in the late '50s outright to Fats Domino and Jerry Lee Lewis, though it's not clear exactly how many, according to rock writer Ed Ward's piece for NPR's “Fresh Air.”

That he signed to Huey Meaux's Tear Drop Records in Houston shortly before his death adds weight to Gomez's claim. Meaux (who two years later was managing Sir Doug) always claimed he was on the phone with Donley when he killed himself, according to Augie Meyers.

“He called Huey Meaux up and told Huey, 'I can't take it no more,'” Meyers recounted. “Huey was the last person he talked to.”

Meyers agrees “totally” that Donley is among the true godfathers of the West Side sound and that he and Sahm simply absorbed the groove.

“Me and Doug used to go to Louisiana back in the '50s,” Meyers said. “There were all those (swamp pop) people and they used to all go to Houston to record. That sound, the West Side Horn sound and Louisiana, it was all connected somehow.”

San Antonio-born singer Johnny Olenn tapped into that vibe for his 1957 hit “Candy Kisses.” Charlie & the Jives and the Sunglows played it, too.

Meyers explained (and Gonzalez agrees) that the Eastwood Country Club played a key role in the Highway 90 corridor that connected S.A. to East Texas and Louisiana.

“All those guys had horns. The sound just kind of came around,” Meyers added. But the Chicano vibe was a distinct, soulful twist.

Gomez is predicting a repeat stellar performance Saturday: “It's such a positive vibe.”

Gonzalez seconds that emotion. “The crowd, the band, all my friends, they give you more energy,” said Gonzalez, who along with Luvine Elias of the Royal Jesters created those haunting signature organ licks. Both men have had to fuss with the mercurial horn men.

“I know when I've got 'em there when they're on the stage, when I can reach them,” Gonzalez said. “They have a different mentality.”